Murphy’s Logic: We have a responsibility to vote

Murphy’s Logic: Voter apathy Steve Murphy discusses voter turnout ahead of the Halifax Regional Municipality election.

Saturday is municipal election day in Nova Scotia and if recent history is any indication, most people won’t vote.

It’s not just Nova Scotia. Voter turnout for municipal elections is lamentably low in many if not most places. While turnout has been falling in provincial and federal elections– it was 66 per cent in New Brunswick four years ago and we’ll see what happens on Monday -- it’s much lower in local elections.

And that’s too bad for a couple of reasons.

The first is municipal government is closest to the people. With the exceptions of health and education, local government provides the services we rely on every day: police and fire, streets and sidewalks, snow clearing, rinks and parks, garbage and recycling, water and sewage. When there’s a problem with one or any of these services, the people on municipal councils are the easiest to reach because they live in our neighbourhoods.

The second reason is a decision not to vote gives the people who do vote disproportionate control. If a candidate wins most of the votes from only a minority of voters, their mandate is much weaker than it should be.

People say their vote doesn’t make any difference but a decision not to vote is an endorsement of the status quo. That’s true in all elections.

In this democracy, we have the right not to vote. But if we want it to work, we have a responsibility to do so.